Is Jesus God?

Is Jesus God? One could turn to many places in Scripture to discover that the Bible answers this question in the affirmative. It does so again and again. However, a preeminent place we find this answer provided in unmistakable terms is Hebrews 1:1–4.

In these verses, and in the remainder of the epistle, the author shows us how Christ has come with a supremacy that far surpasses every other prophet, priest, and king who came before Him. But the author of Hebrews wants us to understand that His supremacy is about more than what He does as a Son of man; it is foremost about who He is as God the Son.

The author says of Jesus in Hebrews 1:3, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” While all the other things said in Hebrews 1:1–4 regarding Jesus’ identity are crucial, this is the most important. This is the centerpiece. This is the bedrock of why Christ far surpasses the goodness of everyone who has come before Him and anyone who could come after Him. The advent of this Prophet, Priest, and King is the advent of God Himself come in the flesh.

We rightly confess in the Nicene Creed that Jesus is “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made.” Hebrews 1:3 is one of the key places in Scripture where we are confronted with that great mystery.

Christ is the radiance of the glory of God. In Isaiah 42:8, we read that Yahweh will not give His glory to another. Yet we read in Hebrews 1:3 that Christ is the radiance of the glory of God. The same glory that shines forth from the Father shines forth in Jesus Christ. The blinding light of God’s glory—the overwhelming refulgence of who He is—radiates from the Father in the Son. That the Son shares the glory of the Father can mean only one thing: He too is the Yahweh of whom Isaiah speaks, the only true and living God.

Furthermore, we read in Hebrews 1:3 that Christ is the exact imprint of the nature of God. The Greek word used in this verse sometimes refers to the imprint that is made by a signet ring in a wax seal. The idea is that every line and contour of the original ring is represented with exactness in the impress that is made. What the analogy communicates about Christ is that the whole of the divine essence that is eternally possessed by the Father is shared by the Son, who is the exact imprint of the nature of God.

This is an opportunity to grasp something about the grammar that the church catholic (universal) uses to describe the life of the Godhead. We ought never to say that the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit are parts of God. God does not have parts as though a piece of God is divvied out to the Father and another piece is divvied out to the Son. No, God is simple. He is indivisible. The Son is the exact imprint of the nature of God. He does not possess a part of deity; He possesses the whole of deity. He is not a part of God. He is God.

Like unto the impress of a ring upon a wax seal, in the eternal generation of the Son, every line and contour of the Father’s deity is communicated to the Son as the Son is begotten in the mysterious depths of God’s life—a begottenness without beginning or end.

That is why the author speaks about what Jesus does in Hebrews 1:2–3. Sandwiched around a statement of the essential deity of Christ are two statements about the work He performs in the creation of the world and its continued governance. We read in Hebrews 1:2 that Jesus is the One “through whom also he created the world.” We read in Hebrews 1:3 that “he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” These are works of the Creator, not of the creature. These are the works of Jesus.

As a result, Christ is worthy to be appointed as the heir of all things (Heb. 1:2). As God the Son, Christ is the One for whom all things have been created and to whom all things are moving.

This is one of the most practical consequences of the deity of Jesus for the Christian. If you are in Christ, then you ought always be aware of how the whole of your being is caught up in the gravitational pull of Christ. You have been created through Him and for Him and you are moving unto Him. We, as His people, are His inheritance. To be His possession is the greatest treasure of our existence.

There is no more practical thing you can do in the Christian life than behold the supremacy of Christ and let that supremacy fill up your imagination, your heart, and your life. Everything else pales in comparison to Him. Everything else in creation may be good, but it cannot begin to rise to the level of His uncreated goodness.